‘Rango’ Somehow Manages To Be Controversial

A cartoon western about talking animals has pissed off a major group. No, it’s not the National Bunched Panties Association.

Rango, the Johnny Depp 3D animated western that’s looking sharp (shootin’) in previews, has made an enemy out of Smoke Free Movies. They want to have a shoot-out with the family film because minor characters are shown smoking. First you can’t smoke in restaurants, now you can’t smoke in fictional universes where animals talk? What gives?

Smoke Free Movies took out an ad in Hollywood Reporter reading:

“How many studio execs did it take to OK smoking in a ‘PG‘ movie?” the ad’s headline screams, before asking, “What was Paramount thinking?”

Maybe they were thinking that characters smoke all the time in classic westerns, so they worried about releasing an authentic, badass western, instead of a western where everybody smokes candy cigarettes or some lame cop-out like that.

“Does’Rango‘ show much smoking? Few PG films do. So why include it at all? It’s a bad guy who smokes? No excuse, either. The research finds that bad guys can have more influence than good guys on kids’ starting to smoke.”

Look, I’m not a smoker, and I don’t like it when people blow smoke in my face. But I also don’t like it when people blow smoke up my ass either, which is what this all sounds like. When I was growing up, cartoon characters were constantly telling me to go to the local library for more information on things, and I won’t be caught dead in a library to this very day. *Research Eliminated*

Also, if anything, I want to see more cartoon characters smoke, like in that old “Flintstones” commercial where Fred and Barney light up. Ahhh… that cool, ink & painty flavor. (TheWrap)

COMMENTS

February 24, 2011 10:28 pm

TinyDickman

I bet these people are perfectly fine with Looney Toons however, where every character is literally killed or tortured in every possible way, burned/stabbed/crushed/blown up/ejected into space/frozen/fall 1000’s of feet/shot/mutilated.

Fucking dipshits, god I fucking hate people

February 24, 2011 10:28 pm

Direct328

Great response to the ad. I saw an early screening of the film and could only recall one instance of actual smoking and the bad guy does it, then Rango puts it out to show he’s tougher. They obviously just read the rating and smoking and got all up in arms.